Faults:

PCV tubing backed up, seals blew, oil leaking and burning.

General Comments:

I live in MN, very cold weather currently, the vehicle sat outside for 4 days without being started. Started it up, and the service engine light came on and the cab was filled with a burnt oil smell. The dealer says it's a bad PCV tube and the seals are broken because of moisture in this area, so it froze and blew out the other direction. Does anyone know if this under warranty, or is there a recall on this?

On top of this, today when I started it, the power loss light came on. This smell is awful and I know it's because the seals are broken, I'm concerned about this, it's about a 1K thing to fix, not sure if I want to keep, fix or sell. Thanks for your comments.

Faults:

14,288 miles, replaced rear drum, limited slip differential, warranty.

18,168 miles, link, torsion bar, both replaced, warranty.

19,746 miles. replaced left bearing and hub assembly in rear wheel, warranty.

27,191 miles, replaced motor fan blower, warranty.

63,436 miles, replaced sway bar end links and right front strut, $626.06.

63,661 miles, replaced heater in driver seat, $219.63.

66,274 miles, replaced ignition cylinder and key, $165.25.

73,347 miles, replaced rear wiper motor, $271.88.

77,417 miles, replaced A/C blower motor, $310.09.

84,181 miles, replaced rear drum slip differential, $1,249.99.

TOTAL: $2,842.90.

Yellow "Service Engine Soon" light came on this morning and we will see what that will bring.

General Comments:

Unreliable. Too many mechanical flaws. Would not buy Saturn again.

Faults:

Bought the 2003 in September of 2003, have replaced a hub bearing, ball joint & now being told the timing chain has fallen off & the engine is destroyed & needs a new one.

This car only has 90,000 miles, timing chain isn't even supposed to be replaced until 100,000 miles.

Had nothing but problems w/this car in the year that I have owned it.

General Comments:

I will never buy another Saturn... I definitely ended up with a lemon, and will have to fix the car with buying a new engine or try to do some kind of trade with Saturn and still be out the money, & have a car payment again which I do not want; either way, Saturn makes money on the deal...

Faults:

Drove off the lot, only to return a week later with the service engine light on. Got it "fixed" only to have it happen again about a month later. Got it fixed and it happened again, finally they replaced the entire fuel line and gas cap - they said that it was loose at first, but discovered that it was faulty.

Also, seat warmers have stopped working, electric moonroof won't open automatically, and paint is chipping on the inside dash.

Recently had to replace electric engine coils.

UGH never again.

Faults:

Car issues:

Transmission mounting failures-numerous failures and replacements (I think we've had that fixed three times)

Transmission itself was replaced in January, 2008.

Cable for hood latch broke at about 10,000 miles.

Squeaky steering-required new psr fluid and lube of steering column at about 70.000 miles.

Noise/Vibration in front end. This condition is currently undiagnosed, but has severe vibration when traveling highway speeds (especially between 55mph and 65mph. Saturn dealer has diagnosed that we need a new rear differential as the noise goes away when the drive shaft is removed. Our local mechanic claims that this issue is related to the transmission (he thinks we need a 2nd new transmission), as the noise started soon after we had the transmission replaced. I'll be taking this to a third mechanic for one more opinion.

Dealer issues:

Our local dealer was unwilling to sell us this car as we had a GM discount. I had to go to a store 50 miles north and they were very helpful and friendly and sold us the car.

At about 40,000 miles, the driver side mirror cracked-I think it was weather related. After I got the mirror replaced (just the reflective piece), the motor in the mirror which rotates mirror side to side did not work. Saturn claimed this was just a coincidence and would not reimburse to get the mirror assembly replaced. In my opinion, this was not a coincidence!

At about 30,000 miles, I had the car in for oil change, etc. Asked them to replace the wiper blades while it was in. They told me that the wipers were out of alignment and they would balance (for $100). I agreed (shame on me). The wipers now do not travel the whole 90 degrees that they should. They will go from about 0 degrees to 80 degrees or from about 10 degrees to 90 degrees. They claim there is no way to fix this, and will not look into it even though the wipers went 90 degrees when I took it there.

Very first oil change on this vehicle at 3000 miles-dealer over filled the tank (put in enough for 6 cylinder). Caused us to have a lot of smoke coming out of the car on our way home-tow truck was called as we had no idea what was happening.

My list of dissatisfaction with the dealer could go on and on. This is too bad, as Saturn was supposed to be known for their customer service. Well, this dealer gets very low marks.

Saturn Corporation in Tennessee-

We own two Saturns (also a 2001 LS), and have had to call corporate office for help two times-once for each car. They have been very helpful, and helped to get the transmission on the vue replaced at no cost even though the warranty was up (by 1000 miles).

General Comments:

I like the car in general-it is comfortable to sit in, a good size and is a practical car for my family. However, it has been unreliable and has caused us to have a very low opinion of Saturn in general. I would definitely not recommend that anyone buy a Vue, especially a 2003 or a VTI transmission.